Friday, May 7, 2010

Nina Hagen

Catharina Hagen was born on March 11, 1955 in East Berlin, Germany. Her parents are scriptwriter Hans Hagen (also knows as Hans Oliva) and actress and singer Eva Maria Hagen. Her paternal grandparents were Jewish and died in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Her parents divorced when she was two years old and she got to see her father quite infrequently. At age four, she started studying ballet, and was considered an opera prodigy at age nine. The story about how she got started in opera lessons says that one day little Nina accompanied her mother for rehearsals for a play. Little Nina approached a woman and asked her about opera and the woman told Nina to just open her mouth as if she were yawning and let out a note. When little Nina did as told, everyone came out surprised and noticed that the amazing note that came out was from a 9 year old girl. By the time she was 13, she was already an opera singer. Around the time Nina was 11, she managed to find God and include Him in her life, despite the fact that her parents were atheists. From that time on, Nina became deeply spiritual and religious and this would reflect in her later work. Also, around this time, her mother remarried and her new husband was protest singer/songwriter, Wolf Biermann. Biermann's political views influenced Nina. Because of this Hagen was dishonorably expelled from the Free German Youth organization at age 12, and became active in political protests against the East German government, including the protest for the former USSR's invasion to former Czechoslovakia. At age 16, Hagen left school and later joined the cover band Fritzens Dampferband (Fritzen's Steamboat Band), together with Achim Mentzel and others. She added songs by Janis Joplin and Tina Turner to the "allowable" setlists during shows. From 1972-1973, Hagen enrolled in the crash-course performance program at The Central Studio for Light Music in East Berlin. Following graduation, Nina formed her band Automobil. This band would be among East Germany's most famous bands, and their most famous song was Du Hast den Farbfilm Vergessen ("You Forgot the Color Film"), released in 1974. Music in East Germany wasn't easy to be recorded because at the time there was a Censhorship Bureau, controlled by the government, which revised every single song that was gonna hit the airwaves to see if its content was adequate, if the music was adequate and didn't show any signs of slamming the government. However, her musical career in East Germany was cut short when she and her mother left East Germany in 1976, following the expulsion of her stepfather. The circumstances surrounding the family's emigration were exceptional: Biermann was granted permission to perform a televised concert in Cologne, but denied permission to re-cross the border to his home country. During a period when bureaucracy was the norm, and families divided by the Berlin Wall had not seen one another in decades, Hagen submitted an application to leave the country. In it, she claimed to be Biermann's biological daughter, and threatened to become the next Wolf Biermann if not allowed to rejoin her father. Just four days later her request was granted, and she settled in Hamburg, where she was signed to a CBS-affiliated record label. Her label advised her to acclimate herself to Western culture through travel, and she arrived in London during the height of the punk rock movement. Hagen was quickly taken up by a circle that included The Slits and the Sex Pistols; Johnny Rotten was a particular admirer. During this travel, was when her famous nickname, The Mother of Punk was born. When she surrounded herself with other fellow punks, since she was the oldest and was seen as some sort of mother figure, that's when the others called her The Mother of Punk. This is a nickname that remains with Nina up to this day. Back in Germany by mid-1977, Hagen formed the Nina Hagen Band in West Berlin's Kreuzberg district. In 1978 they released their self-titled debut album, which included the single "TV-Glotzer" (a cover of "White Punks on Dope" by The Tubes, though with entirely different German lyrics), and Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo, about West Berlin's then-notorious Berlin Zoologischer Garten station. The album also included a version of "Rangehn" (approximately, "Go On"), a song she had previously recorded in East Germany, but with different music. According to reviewer Fritz Rumler:

"… she thrusts herself into the music, aggressively, directly, furiously, roars in the most beautiful opera alto, then, through shrieks and squeals, precipitates into luminous soprano heights, she parodies, satirises, and howls on stage like a dervish."

The album gained significant attention throughout Germany and abroad, both for its hard rock sound and for Hagen's theatrical vocals, far different from the straightforward singing of her East German recordings. However, relations between Hagen and the other band members deteriorated over the course of the subsequent European tour, and Hagen decided to leave the band in 1979, though she was still under contract to produce a second album. This LP, Unbehagen (which in German also means discomfort or unease), was eventually produced with the band recording their tracks in Berlin and Hagen recording the vocals in Los Angeles, California. It included the single "African Reggae" and a cover of Lene Lovich's "Lucky Number". The other band members sans Hagen, soon developed a successful independent musical career as Spliff.Meanwhile, Hagen's public persona was steadily creating media uproar. She became infamous for an appearance on an Austrian evening talk show called Club 2, on 9th August 1979, on the topic of youth culture, when she demonstrated (while clothed, but explicitly) various female masturbation positions and became embroiled in a heated argument with another panelist. The talk show host had to step down following this controversy.She also acted with Dutch rocker Herman Brood and singer Lene Lovich in the 1979 film Cha Cha. Hagen's discomfort with Nina Hagen Band and a strong desire to pursue a solo career were reflected in the band's cancellation of an European tour in 1980. Later that year, Nina found out she was pregnant, broke up with father-to-be Ferdinand Karmelk and moved to Los Angeles. Her daughter, Cosma Shiva, was born on May 17, 1981 in Santa Monica, California. When Nina was 4 months pregnant with Cosma, she experienced a UFO sightseeing. She has narrated this in several interviews and this would be a recurrent theme in her work. During this time, Nina cut off all her hair for spiritual cleansing motives and started incorporating Hinduist beliefs into her life. The rest of 1981, Nina spent her time recording what would be her debut album both as a solo artist and as an emerging artist in the U.S. In May 1982, the finished product was released and was called NunSexMonkRock. When the album was released, it caused several reactions. Radio stations didn't know how to classify the music of this album, music critics were shocked and didn't understand the album, and the audience while some where shocked and scared others were intrigued and curious about this unknown German artist. Nina then went on touring this album with the No Problem Orchestra. In 1983, Nina released the German album Angstlos (in 1984 she would release the English version for it, Fearless) and supported the album with a minor European tour. By this time, Hagen's public appeareances were becoming stranger and frequently included discussions of God, UFOs, her social and political beliefs, animal rights and vivisection, and claims of alien sightings. The English version of Angstlos,Fearless, generated two major club hits in America, "Zarah" (a cover of the Zarah Leander (#45 USA) song "Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen") and the disco/punk/opera song, "New York New York" (#9 USA, Dance charts). From 1984 to 1985, she dated Anthony Kiedis, the lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.Her 1985 album Nina Hagen In Ekstasy fared less well, but did generate club hits with "Universal Radio" (#39 USA) and a cover of "Spirit In The Sky" and also featured a 1979 recording of her hardcore punk take on Frank Sinatra's My Way, which had been one of her signature live tunes in previous years. Her contract with CBS over, she released the Punk Wedding EP independently in 1987, a celebration of her marriage to a 17-year-old-punk nicknamed 'Iroquois'. It followed an independent 1986 one-off single with Lene Lovich, the anthemic Don't Kill The Animals. In 1989, Hagen released the album Nina Hagen which was backed up by another German tour. In 1989 she had a relationship with Frank Chevallier from France, with whom she has a son, Otis Chevallier-Hagen, born in 1990.

In the 1990s, Hagen lived in Paris with her daughter Cosma Shiva and son Otis. In 1991 she toured Europe in support of her new album Street. In 1992 Hagen became the host of a TV show on RTLplus. Also in the same year (1992) she collaborated with Adamski on the European smash and minor uk hit single "Get Your Body". The following year, she released Revolution Ballroom.In 1994 Laramy Smith recorded Nina at Ferber Studios in Paris, for the "Somebody Help Me" project, a song to aid the homeless worldwide. In 1994, NIna starred in the acclaimed San Francisco Goethe Institut's "The Seven Addictions and Five Professions of Anita Berber," playing the singer version of "Anita" alongside dancer Jennifer Pieren who portrayed the other "professions" of "Anita." 1995 brought the German-language album FreuD Euch appeared, recorded in English as Beehappy in 1996. Nina returned to San Francisco to star in another San Francisco Goethe Institut show, "Hannusen, Hitler's Jewish Clarvoyant." Hagen also collaborated with electronic music composer Christopher Franke, along with Rick Jude on "Alchemy of Love", the theme song for the film Tenchi Muyo! in Love. In May of 1996, She married David Lynn, who is fifteen years younger, but was divorced him in the beginning of 2000. In 1997 she collaborated with German hip hop musician Thomas D. In 1998, Hagen became the host of a weekly science fiction show on the British Sci-Fi Channel, in addition to embarking on another tour of Germany. In 1999, she released the devotional album Om Namah Shivay, which was distributed exclusively online and included an unadulterated musical version of the Hare Krishna mantra (in real life she believes that the Hindu incarnation of God known as Krishna was 'the king of Jerusalem'. Krishna is sometimes referred to as "Christ"). She also provided vocals to "Witness" and "Bereit" on KMFDM's Adios. Also in 1998 she recorded the official club anthem (Eisern Union !) for FC Union Berlin and four versions were issued on a CD single by G.I.B Music and Distribution GmbH. In 1999, she played the role of Celia Peachum in The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht, alongside Max Raabe.

In 2000, her song Schön ist die Welt became the official song of Expo 2000. Another cover of a Zarah Leander song "Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt" was a minor hit the same year. The album The Return of the Mother was released in February 2001, accompanied by another German tour. In 2001 she collaborated with Rosenstolz and Marc Almond on the single Total eclipse/Die schwarze Witwe that reached #22 in Germany. On 14th of October 2002 Nina hit Moscow by coming there with her concert, while interviews with the eccentric singer were aired on many TV-channels. Hagen dubbed the voice of Sally in the German release of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, and she has also done voice work on the movie Hot Dogs by Michael Schoemann. Hagen has been featured on songs by other bands, for instance on Oomph!'s song "Fieber".In 2003, she did a cover of Rammstein's "Seemann" with Apocalyptica. Later albums include Big Band Explosion, in which she sang numerous swing covers with her then husband, Danish singer and performer, Lucas Alexander. This was followed by Heiß, a greatest hits album. Her most recent album, Journey to The Snow Queen, is more of an audio book—she reads the Snow Queen fairy tale with Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker in the background. In 2005 Nina Hagen headlined the Drop Dead Festival in New York City. Hagen has been an active protester against the war in Iraq. In 2006 she was a part of the Popstars team. She is a vegetarian.In August 2009 she was baptized in the Protestant Reformed church of Schüttorf. On October 21th after 7 years passed she visited Moscowagain. It has now been revealed that her new album will consist of gospel music and it will be named Personal Jesus. Stay tuned for more details.

Nina Hagen Band was the first studio album for Nina Hagen's project at the moment, Nina Hagen Band. It was released in 1978. Nina and her band co-wrote most of the songs and produced the album. The album consists of hard rock sound with punk elements. This album includes their famous cover of The Tubes' White Punks on Dope, which Nina Hagen Band retitled as TV Glotzer (White Punks on Dope) and was sung entirely in German. TV Glotzer was the only single released from this album.

Unbehagen was the second and last album of the Nina Hagen Band before Nina's abandonment of the band for her solo career. It was released on 1979. Unbehagen means "discomfort" in German but it can be seen as a pun on the band's name. The only single released from this album was African Reggae. Wenn Ich Ein Junge Wär was recorded live in April 1979 at the Saarbrücken Congress Hall. This album also includes their cover of Nina's friend and fellow singer Lene Lovich's My Lucky Number with the track Wir Leben Immer Noch.

Nina's first solo album and third in total, NunSexMonkRock was released in May 1982 through CBS Records. This debut album helped Nina become well known in the States and due to the sound of this album, radio stations didn't know which musical genre this album belonged to, the music critics were confused and the audience while shocked they were also intrigued by Nina Hagen.Lyrically, the album tackles meditation, science vs. religion war, masturbation, UFO's, even her ode to her daughter, track Cosma Shiva, the effects of a potential atomic war, among other topics. Nina toured this album along with the No Problems Orchestra in 1982. NunSexMonkRock was rereleased in 1991 with 4 bonus tracks which were: TV Glotzer, Superboy, African Reggae and Wir Leben Immer Noch. The only single taken from this album was Smack Jack, her anti-drug anthem. The uploaded file will be the one with the original tracklist.

This is an unofficial live album in support of her NunSexMonkRock tour. This recording is taken from her date at Clutch Cargo's in Detroit, Michigan on July 31, 1982. Hits like Smack Jack and African Reggae appear here as well as cover songs like Boney M's Rivers of Babylon and her signature live cover version of Habanera, among many others.

Angstlos is Nina Hagen's second solo release. It was released in late 1983. The record company asked Nina to tone down for her upcoming album, due to the reactions that her previous release NunSexMonkRock caused. Nina enlisted the help of famed producer and songwriter, Giorgio Moroder, who had just produced the soundtrack for the Flashdance film, so it's no surprise if this album reminds you of Flashdance…What a Feeling but with Nina's vocals, hehe. The singles released from this album were her signature hit New York New York (#9 U.S. Dance charts) and her ode to Swedish singer Zarah Leander, Zarah, which included a snippet of Zarah Leander's song Ich Weiss Es Wird Einmal Ein Wunder Geschehn. In 1984, the English version of this record, Fearless, was released. This album includes a collaboration with then unknown and quite young Red Hot Chili Peppers, with the song What It Is. Nina dated frontman Anthony Kiedis during this time. Nina Hagen supported this album with her Intergalactic World Tour in 1984. Fearless was rereleased in 2007 by Columbia Records.

Nina's third studio album, Nina Hagen in Ekstase (the German version) and its sister album in English, Nina Hagen in Ekstasy, were released in 1985. Both albums were recorded in Ibiza, Spain, at Nina's home. The only single released from this album was Universal Radio, which made it to #39 in the U.S. Dance charts. During this time, Nina toured the album, including a very famous appearance at Rock in Rio, which gathered 250, 000 people seeing Nina. This is the reason why Nina became famous in Brazil, from that day on. This album includes a collaboration with famous rapper Afrika Bambaataa and also a cover version of Norman Greenbaum's old hippie hit, Spirit in the Sky. Also, Nina's cover of Paul Anka's and most famously, Frank Sinatra's My Way finally saw the light of day, since it was recorded in 1979 in pure punk fashion but it had never been released on any albums because it didn't fit with her other albums, until this one. Also, this album includes the track Vater Unser and The Lord's Prayer in the English version, which is a mixture of the famous prayer The Lord's Prayer ("In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit………") with Aram Khachaturian's Sabre Dance with glam pop music.

Nina Hagen Live at Montreux is an unofficial release of Nina Hagen's 1985 presentation at the prestigious Montreux festival held every year at Montreux, Switzerland. This presentation happened in time to promote her In Ekstase/In Ekstasy albums. This includes some tracks from those albums plus some of her old hits with the Nina Hagen Band and her signature hit, New York New York and a reworked version of Georges Bizet's Habanera from the Carmen opera, and more.

Nina Hagen is Nina's self-titled release from 1989. This album includes collaborations with Mötorhead's singer Lemmy and her friend Lene Lovich. Some of its tracks include her cover version of Schubert's Ave Maria with German lyrics written by Nina herself, a cover of her hero Janis Joplin's Move Over and a cover of one of her other heroes, David Bowie's Life on Mars, among other tracks.

Nina Hagen's Street was released in 1991. It's her first material since she became a mom with her son Otis, born in 1990. This album flirts with both early 90's rap and hip/hop music. The singles released from this album were: Blumen für die Damen, In My World and Berlin (Is Dufte!).

Freud Euch is Nina Hagen's studio album, released on January 1, 1995. This album is very punk. However, it includes reggae music such as in the case of the track Tiere (Animals). Speaking of Tiere, it's worthy of mention to say that Tiere has a strong message in which Hagen denounces mistreatment of animals and how we should let them live. Nina is a strong PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) activist. BeeHappy is the English version of FreuD Euch, released on January 1, 1996.

Om Namah Shivay is Nina Hagen's studio album, released on October 29, 1999. This record is totally different to anything Hagen had ever done because Nina here performs mantras (religious songs from India). The CD release includes 2 CDs. The first one which is a 13-track CD and the second one which consists of live audio performances of some of Om Namah Shivay's tracks, under the name of Indische Nächte Live. It also includes a bonus movie. As stated by Nina herself on the CD's liner notes, the album is dedicated to God and to all human beings and animals and Mother Nature and to all of God's creation, in all universes! Nina also says on the CD's liner notes that half of the price of this CD (50%) goes directly to the Chernobyl Children's Hospital #14 in Kiev, Ukraine; to the Baba Haidhakan charitable research Hospital in Chilanda, India; to the Elisabeth Hospiz in Lohmar-Deesem, Germany and to the Fundraising towards the Tibetan children, who have to cross the many mountains towards freedom and she lists several more addresses where the CD buyer could donate more money, including the Children of the Streets in Brazil Project.

Return of the Mother is Nina Hagen's studio album, released on March 28, 2000. This album includes some cover versions such as Zarah Leander's Der Wind Hat Mir Ein Lied Erzählt, Yes Sir and also includes the previously released, He Shiva Shankara. The only single released from here was Der Wind Hat Mir Ein Lied Erzählt.

Irgendwo auf der Welt is Nina Hagen's studio album released on April 24, 2006. Nina Hagen here performs 20's, 30's, and 40's songs both in German and in English, supported by the Capital Dance Orchestra.

Personal Jesus is Nina Hagen's studio album, released on July 16, 2010 in Europe and on July 27, 2010 in the U.S. The album consists of mainly gospel music but also blues and a bit of rock. Nina Hagen herself has explained that through this album she wants to explain her personal story and experience with Jesus. This album includes her cover version of Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus.

Hey people!! I want to remind you that every cd you listen to after you've listened to it please make the most effort to go out and buy it. Remember that we should always support artists. Thank you very much!!